Monday Update: Flash flood, art ride, John Nolen

posted by Mary Ebeling | 10sc
June 18, 2018

Last Week

We had some memorable rain events last week, leading to flooding, downed trees, and other complications for pretty much everyone. Saturday morning I woke up to a large tree branch in the middle of the street. As we all experienced, and as the pictures submitted to MB’s Facebook page, bike paths suffered downed trees and flooding as a result of these storms. I know that in the moment we just deal with the obstacles before us and can forget to let the city know so the mess can be cleaned up. As a reminder, the City’s “report a problem” site provides a way to let the city know about these issues and hopefully address them quickly!

As if all this rain wasn’t challenging enough, the record high temperatures have not been for the faint of heart. Undeterred, the Tour de la Familia Latino rode this past Saturday. I have not heard how many folks attended. We’re hoping someone from the BiciClub Latino de Madison can let us know!

This week

The Madison Bikes Board meets at 6:00pm–8:00pm on Monday, June 18 at the Madison Public Library, 201 W Mifflin St, Madison, WI 53703. Please attend and learn what we are doing and how you can help!

On Tuesday, June 19 the Madison Common Council meets at 6:30 at the City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Room 201, Madison, WI.. The agenda looks packed but about half-way through they will discuss the much maligned “hairball” intersection of John Nolen/Williamson/Blair/Wilson streets. The full agenda for the meeting is here.

Chris Rickert from the Wisconsin State Journal discusses the differing opinions on if the proposed redesign is satisfactory in this article. While it looks like the Council is likely to move forward with accepting the report on the redesign, it is definitely not too late to ask for changes that would further improve the bike/walk environment at this stressful intersection.

Don’t forget to check Madison Bikes blog on Wednesday, June 20thfor the second installment in a three-part series by Jonathan Mertzig. Jonathan lived in the Netherlands and shares his experience biking and walking in that country, where planning, engineering and policy has made biking the preferred mode of transportation in urban areas.

On Thursday, a new BCycle station will open at and in partnership with the Goodman Community Center. Center participants can get a free membership, and there will various family-friendly festivities, 4:30-6pm.

On Sunday, June 24 Bike the Art tour happens from 12:00pm – 3:30pm. Meet at Allen Centennial Garden, 620 Babcock Dr, Madison for a free all-ages bike tour of galleries, events and unique art venues across Madison. The tour includes exclusive access to artist talks, workshops, and tours of exhibitions and art spaces. Participants are welcome to join the tour at any stage; please refer to the schedule linkded below for where and when to meet with the group. Additional stops include Working Draft Beer Company and Madison Circus Space. Bike the Art is sponsored by Dane Arts, Madison Arts Commission, Arts + Literature Laboratory, VEA Events, The Bubbler at Madison Public Library, Community Art Discourse Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/167531243939829/